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a Smart fire Coming from the Front and Left Flank, the Whole took to Flight; Several Attempts were made to halt the Men, in Order to Make a Regular Retreat, but to no purpose, they went off as fast as they Could, until they got about three Miles from the field of Action, where there were about a hundred Men, halted with much Difficulty untill several Small Bodies Join'd them from the Rear, and then Continued the Retreat.

The Question being Asked, if any of the Men Could be Named, who had behaved Remarkably ill, Answer was made they Could Not Name any in particular and that the Bad behaviour was general; however, that Courts Martial were held on the Armys Arrival at Fort Cumberland, and the men, who had come off unwounded without Arms or Accoutrements were punished.

The Bad behaviour of the Men is in some Measures Attributed to the following Reasons.

Ist: They were greatly Harrass'd by dutys unequal to their Numbers, Dispirited by Want of Sufficient Provisions, and not being allowed time to dress the little they had, with nothing to Drink but Water, and that Often Scarce and Bad.

2d: The frequent Conversations of the Provincial Troops and Country people was, that if they engaged the Indians in their European Manner of fighting, they would be Beat, and this some of their Officers Declared as their Opinion, and one of them to Coll Dunbar on the Retreat, for which he Severely Reprimanded him.

3d: The Want of Indians or other irregulars to give timely Notice of the Enemy's Approach, having only three or four guides for out Scouts.

Lastly the Novelty of an invisible enemy and the Nature of the Country, which was entirely a Forest.

A true Copy Examin'd by
WM: ALEXANDER Secy.

THOS. DUNBAR Colo.
THOS. GAGE Lieut. Colo.

Endorsed:

Inquiry into the Behaviour of the Troops at the Monongahela dated Albany 21st Novr. 1755. in Govr. Shirley's Novr. 5, 1755.

1

WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO WILLIAM WILLIAMS 1

INSTRUCTIONS FOR CAPT. WILLIAMS

Fort Williams, October 29, 1755.

You are to employ as many of the Men of the Detachment under your Command as you possibly can, in finishing the Fort this day marked out at this place and called Fort Williams, and Compleating Barracks therein sufficient to contain 150 men. You are also to build therein a Store house of about the same dimensions of that already built here, and as soon as the Barracks are fit to receive the Men of your Detachment you are to Quarter them therein.

When the Works above directed are Compleated, you are to employ as many of the Men under your Command as you judge can be safely spared from Fort Williams in mending and repairing the road from hence to Wood Creek, especially in making a good Bridge over the place called the Morass, by first laying good sizeable Logs lengthways, parrallel to the road, well pinned down and then by laying other Logs of a less Size across and well fastned to the former.

And as I have ordered Lieutt. Col. Mercer to send from Oswego an Officer and thirty Men, to reinforce your De

1 P. R. O., C. O. 5, 46. A second copy is in C. O. 5, 47, and there is a transcript in the Library of Congress.

2 Fort Williams was at the eastern end of the Mohawk or “Great Carrying Place." Its importance lay in its commanding the trade between the English and the Six Nations and guarding the route to Oswego and Lake Ontario. The carry was between the Mohawk River and Wood's Creek. A map in Hurlbut, "Historic Highways," 7, 143, reproducing one in the British Museum, shows the various forts at the crossing.

tachment, you are to take them under your Command, and quarter them also in Fort Williams.

And Whereas I have ordered Capt. Marcus Petri with the Men under his Command to build a Fort at the upper Landing on the Wood Creek, to be called Wood Creek Fort, and when that is Compleated to detain 20 of the Men of his Company to be employed in cleaning the Wood Creek down to the Mouth thereof and when that is finished and Capt. Petri leaves that Fort it will be proper to have a Guard there, you are then to send an Officer with thirty Men to Garrison that Fort.

When the Works above directed are Compleated you are to build another Storehouse in Wood Creek Fort. And Lastly you are to endeavour to get as much Provision as you can, carried over to Wood Creek Fort.

Endorsed:

Instructions for Capt. Williams
Octr. 29, 1755-

W. SHIRLEY.

WILLIAM SHIRLEY TO SIR THOMAS ROBINSON 1

SIR,

Albany, November 5, 1755.

[Duplicate]

Yesterday I had the Honour to receive a Letter from You dated the 28th of August,2 acquainting me that their Excellencies the Lords Justices were pleased to order me to take, for the present and until His Majesty's Pleasure shall be further signified, the Command in Chief of all his Maj

1 P. R. O., C. O. 5, 46. A transcript is in the Library of Congress and another is in the Parkman Papers in the Mass. Hist. Society.

2 Ante, p. 242. In a circular letter of November 4 from the Lords of Trade to the Colonial Governors, the establishment of a packet boat service between America and Great Britain had been considered, thus securing a more regular means of communication. (1 N. J. Arch. 8, pt. 2, 146.)

esty's Forces in North America, in the same manner and with the same powers, as the late General Braddock had it; and by the same conveyance I had the Honour to receive their Commission for that purpose transmitted to me by Mr. Fox.

I am likewise to acknowledge the receipt of copies of the several Orders, Letters and Instructions, which had been given at different times to the late General for his Guidance and Direction in the King's Service, as also of his letters to you.

You had before, Sir, in your Letter of the 31st of July1 acquainted me the Earl of Holderness had made particular mention in a Letter to you from Hanover, of the high Honour his Majesty had been pleased to do me in Expressing his approbation of my Conduct and Behaviour in his Service; which Mark of his Royal Favour, I have the deepest Sense of, and shall Exert my best Endeavours for promoting his Service upon this Continent in Execution of the great Trust, which I have the Honour to have reposed in me.

In your beforementioned Letter of the 28th August, you likewise signified, Sir, the Directions of the Lords Justices to me, "to make all possible Enquiry into the Causes and Circumstances of the late bad Behaviour of the King's Troops upon the Monongahela, and to make as many Examples of the most notorious Delinquents, as should be found requisite and expedient to restore the Discipline of his Majesty's Forces in America." In Obedience to these Orders I directed the Commanding Officer of each of the Regiments concerned in that Action to enquire in the most particular and effectual manner into the Causes and Circumstances of the late bad Behaviour of those Troops, and to Report their Opinion to me, as also to let me know whether any and what Courts Martial had been held upon, and Examples made of the most notorious Delinquents among them; and inclos'd is the Report of those Officers, to which I beg leave to referr you.2

1 Robinson's letter of July 31 is in P. R. O., C. O. 5, 281. It is devoted more particularly to an account of the success of Lt. Col. Robert Monckton in his attack on Beauséjour, Acadia, in June, 1755. 2 This report is on p. 311. It is dated Nov. 21, evidently an

error.

From this Report, as well as other Inquiries, I have made, it appears to me that the bad Behaviour of the Troops was so General, that there seems no room to distinguish any particular Delinquents to make Examples of, more than what the Report informs me hath been already done.

As to the Causes and Circumstances of this ill Behaviour, the Account of which, as given in the Report, doth not seem so distinct and clear as might be; they appear to me, Sir, from the best Inquiries, I have been able to make as follows.

I begin with the Marches, the General made with about 1400 picked troops for twenty days successively before the Action, because the first reason assigned in the latter end of the Report for their bad Behaviour alludes in a great Measure to those Marches, whereby they are supposed to have been harrass'd and dispirited.

In order to set this Article in a just Light, it is proper to acquaint you, Sir, that these Marches were occasioned by Intelligence the General had received of the Garrison of Fort Duquesne's expecting to be very suddenly Strengthned with a Considerable Reinforcement; which the General endeavoured to prevent by investing the Fort before their arrival there; and the Effect of those Marches seems to have been so far from dispiriting the Troops, or laying them under any disadvantages that by this means they passed the most dangerous defiles before they met the Enemy; and the Soldiers thereupon expressed a General Satisfaction, and advanced to meet them with great alacrity, as is taken notice of in the Report itself, the Officers on their part Congratulated the General upon it, as a most fortunate Event; and it seems clear from the inclosed Plan No. 1, in which is Delineated the disposition of the Kings Troops, and that of the Enemy, at the time of the latter's being discovered, that they were then in one Compact Body, and not possessed themselves of the Eminence, from whence it is observed in the Plan, they did the greatest Execution on the Kings Troops, but that the advanced Party under Lieut. Col. Gage and the working Party under Sir John St. Clair had both pass'd the

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